President Vetoes the Amendements to the State Agency for National Security Act

President Rumen Radev has vetoed the amendments to the Law on the State Agency for National Security (SANS), adopted by the National Assembly on 2 October 2025, and returned them for further debate in Parliament. The amendments transfer the power to appoint and dismiss the agency’s chairperson from the President to the Parliament.

In his reasoning, the President emphasises that under the current legal framework, the shared competence between the head of state and the government serves as a safeguard ensuring an objective assessment of the candidates’ experience and qualifications. This arrangement prevents the appointment or dismissal process from being influenced by shifts in the political climate.

According to Radev, the newly adopted amendments undermine these guarantees and would lead to repoliticisation of the process.

The president recalled events from 12 years ago, when the same power was first given to Parliament. On 14 June 2013, the day the law was promulgated, the Parliament elected Delyan Peevski as head of SANS, which sparked massive public protests. Days later, Parliament revoked its decision, and in early 2015 the President’s authority to appoint or dismiss the agency’s chair, upon a proposal by the government, was reinstated. The current amendments, Radev warned, offer no safeguards against a recurrence of such a situation.

He also rejected the sponsors’ claim that election by Parliament would “guarantee stability, predictability, and public confidence”. On the contrary, he noted, recent experience shows that Parliament either fails to act for years or takes decisions in breach of the Constitution. As a result, the principle of fixed-term mandates for senior state positions — a cornerstone of democratic governance — has been severely compromised in Bulgaria.

Radev cautioned that giving Parliament sole authority over the appointment and dismissal of the SANS chair creates a real risk that every change in the political balance could trigger the replacement of the agency’s leadership, undermining the very principle of fixed mandates.

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On October 2, Parliament resolved that the Chair of the State Agency for National Security (SANS) will be elected by the Parliament on the proposal of the Council of Ministers. Similar changes received initial approval for the State Intelligence Agency (SIA) and the State Agency Technical Operations (SATO).

With the adopted amendments, the Parliament approved the new procedure for appointing the Chair of the State Agency for National Security, moving the responsibility from the President to the Parliament.

The main sponsors of the amendments were There Is Such a People MP Aleksandar Rashev and MPs from the ruling majority.

The amendments were supported by GERB-UDF, Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) – New Beginning, Bulgarian Socialist Party - United Left, There Is Such a People (TISP), and three independent MPs. we Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria (WCC-DB), Morality, Unity, Honour (MECH), and Velichie opposed the changes. The Alliance for Rights and Freedoms abstained.